March 15, 2006
"One Signature Away"
In testimony before Congress today, General John Abizaid, CENTCOM commander, confirmed that the Iraqi military intelligence and intelligence agencies uncovered and thwarted a plot by al-Qaeda to infiltrate 421 terrorists into the Iraqi Army -- where they would be stationed at the gates and inside the Green Zone. Their mission would have been to launch a brutal terrorist attack to kill as many Americans and Iraqis and kidnap hundreds of hostages.
Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the 421 Al Qaeda recruits were one bureaucrat's signature away from acceptance into an Iraqi army battalion whose job is to control the gates and main squares in the Green Zone. The plot was discovered three weeks ago.
But the point is that the plot was broken by the Iraqi Army... even though members of the Ministry of Defense were implicated:
A senior Defense Ministry official said the 421 Al Qaeda fighters were actually recruited to storm the U.S. and British embassies and take hostages. Several ranking Defense Ministry officials were jailed in the plot, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
The fact that the Iraqi Army can operate for the good of Iraq and even arrest its own bosses shows that they are independent, patriotic, and -- as we've said before -- tough as nails. If anything saves Iraq not only from a "civil war" but from pure, unadulterated chaos, it will be the New Iraqi Army.
Hatched by Dafydd on this day, March 15, 2006, at the time of 6:12 PM
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Comments
The following hissed in response by: Bill Faith
I linked from "One Signature Away".
The above hissed in response by: Bill Faith ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://biglizards.net/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 16, 2006 1:30 AM
The following hissed in response by: Steven Den Beste
Bagging those defense officials is fine. Did they pick up the 421 recruits as well? That would have been a good haul, but it sounds like they didn't.
The above hissed in response by: Steven Den Beste at March 16, 2006 3:18 AM
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